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[00:00:00]

Let's get to Austin Matthews. He is in Germany to see a doctor for treatment on an undisclosed injury. He's been out of the lineup for the last handful of games. It has been his preference to go to Germany to meet with a doctor. Again, his preference. You've been on top of this story. If I'm a Leaps fan, I know I'm very concerned about my top player going overseas to deal with an injury that I'm not even completely sure of. What's the latest with Austin Matthews in this injury? Why is he going to Germany? Can you put some sense into this?

[00:00:36]

Well, he remains in Munich now as we're recording, and he's getting a series of treatments there from a doctor that he saw over the summer as well. And obviously, in a case like this, I mean, Austin Matthews is a world-class athlete, and his body is an important part of who he is and what he does professionally. And I think the least are more than happy if this was his preference for how he wanted to take the next stage of dealing with this injury to take part in this. Obviously, they have their team doctor, Noah Foreman, with them in Germany. You should He'll probably be concerned, don't get me wrong, if you're a fan, just in the sense that this started off as something that really did look and feel like it was going to be he needs a couple of days to let his body heal, and then he'll be back in the lineup. Now you're at seven games missed and counting. After he missed the Wednesday game against Vegas. So he's not going to play Sunday against Utah unless there's some miracle. So that's at least eight games. There's a chance he plays next Wednesday against Florida.

[00:01:42]

But if not that game, that's nine games. To miss nine games of a season for one absence that was described initially as day to day, that tells you it's not nothing, right? And my sense, though, is the Leaps really want him to do what it takes to put the issue fully behind him. I think that he was not right at any point this season. He suffered some setback or injury during training camp. He left practice one day, abruptly, missed an exhibition game he was supposed to play, missed a couple of practices, managed to start the season. I think he felt was probably putting some pressure on himself, quite honestly. It's his first season as captain of the team. You got a new head coach. Obviously, you don't want to start the year not playing. And so he He tried to tough it out. And the results show that he was not his dominant self. He still put up decent totals, but nothing like what you're accustomed to seeing. And then eventually got to the point it's untenable. They tried this rest recovery in Toronto that wasn't improving enough. And this was the next level that Austin and his team wanted to take things.

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And so the Germany thing is interesting. All kinds of athletes from all over the world go to Germany to get treated. I think that it's known for cutting edge medicine there. And as I mentioned, there's some comfort having worked with the medical team there previously. And so I don't know how much to read into that. Sometimes there's a specialist in Denver everybody sees. Dr. Hsu is doing a lot of the hip surgery these days out of New York. So if you're playing in San Jose, say, and you get the hip injury, they send you from San Jose to New York to see that doctor. It's an only slightly longer flight from Toronto to Munich. But still, I'm not dismissing it as nothing. But I guess my point is, you obviously want to see the top people in the medical field when you're these athletes. And so it's tough to know what happens next year. I think it's what's important, though, to underline, Matthews felt like this was the right thing for him. This is where he was comfortable doing, and the Leifs supported it. We'll see where he's at. If he's back this weekend, if he's skating.

[00:03:58]

The biggest concern I would have now just how much time he's been off the ice, what that return to play process looks like. But at the end of the day, do these games in November even matter for a fall in the leaves? I mean, we know this is all about making sure Austin can do what he needs to do to be as healthy as he can for the leaves to have a successful run through the second half of the playoffs. I can't sit here and say that's going to happen, but that's the main thing that's going on here, is the Leaps are trying to, and he is trying to get to a spot where he's going to be in peak physical condition at the end of the season, not in the second month of the season.

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Another positive to this, this is just treatment and not surgery. The Leaps also emphasize that as well.

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Yeah. And we're in a new age, too. I'm thinking of this because Jack Eichel was in Toronto Wednesday. Obviously, he notably butt heads with the sabers over what neck surgery he was going to get years ago. Ultimately prompt the trade to Vegas. That's worked out pretty well for the Goldenights and for Jack Eichel. But this is nowhere near that thing, because as I said, I don't think this is an adversarial situation between the Leifs and Matthews. But athletes are doing what they feel they need to do. Christian McCaffrey, if you follow the NFL, he spent time in Germany amongst other places while dealing with the tendonitis he had. He also came out and spoke recently in the press and said that he felt like there's a lot of Instagram doctors out there telling him what to do. And he was chastising people for that. I mean, that's why I have a hard time sitting here and second-guessing anything. I think the hard part about covering the Matthew story is there's just been a cone of silence around things. From a public perspective, it's hard to know what to read into everything. I will say from my private conversations with people all around this situation, I don't get the sense anyone really is freaking out just yet, but you can't get around the facts.

[00:05:55]

The facts are that he hasn't played since November fifth, I believe, or or November third, anyway, early November. And it hasn't gotten better to where he's even practicing with a team right now. So that in itself tells you something. And the fact that they've taken this break in the schedule and gone over to Munich also tells you another thing.

[00:06:16]

And on top of that, it's not as if Austin Matthews is the only player of note injured on this Toronto Maple Leaps team. Maybe Max Domi wasn't available on Wednesday night. There was news about Kyla Jarncroke being out month to month, about Max Patcheready being on injured reserve. David Camp, too, on LTIR. This is a team of walking wounded right now.

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Yeah, I guess the positive side of that is you're getting to see some of the younger prospects and testing the depth a little bit. The Leaps have been winning, too. That's the other thing is some of the urgency is down. The temperature is a bit down that they've played as well as they have without Matthews. But you're right. I mean, the injuries are piling up here. I think it's a reminder, too, that when we talk with the least, when it gets to the trade deadline time. I'm reasonably certain unless there's some huge change in status somewhere else on the roster that they're going to be targeting at least another center, if not multiple forwards, potentially. And so this reminds you how quickly you suffer a couple of injuries, and obviously a big one with Matthews being gone for this long. But you're getting a lot of players in that forward lineup that you just can't count on to score. It's nothing against those players. It's just that's not what they're paid to do. It's not what they're expected to do, but they're all having to play a little higher up the lineup or play more minutes than they're accustomed to.

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And so I think the Leaps do have reasonably good depth. Certainly, they're finding their way through all this injury troubles so far. It's so good. But if you got trades in your mind Start looking around at some of the available forwards, because I can tell you the leaves are already thinking about where they might go and how they might use the assets they have as we get close to the deadline.

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If there's one thing we love talking about at the Sdpn, it's trades. You said a very magic word, CJ.

[00:08:01]

Trades. We don't have a lot of trades just yet, but it is of people's minds now. I mean, it's as far out as we are from the trade deadline as speculative as something like the Trade Board is in the sense that we really don't know yet what teams will be sellers 100 %. We can pinpoint, call it five that are very, very, very likely to be sellers. But teams are already doing this exercise internally with their scouts, looking at who might be available so that they're ready to pounce when we get into the new year.

[00:08:31]

Okay. But can we go out to Vancouver and discuss this JT Miller story? He is away from the team due to personal reasons. Here's a quote from General Manager Patrick Alvian. Right now, our sole focus is making sure JT knows the entire organization is here to support him. Out of respect to JT, we will have no further comment at this time. What do you know about that situation and what JT Miller's season has been like to this point?

[00:08:56]

Yeah, it's been a tough season. I don't think physically He's been where he needs to be, and he's pushed through it, as a lot of athletes in this sport do, as even I just was saying, Austin Matthews did until he couldn't. I think JT has been in that spot. And with some of those physical limitations and the struggles that have maybe been attached to them, there's a mental side of it, too. There's a toll that's taken on him. What you know about JT Miller, he's a passionate guy. He does not hide his emotions. You know what he's feeling at any given time. You know he's putting a ton of pressure on himself. And I think that as those things are building up and building up and building up here, the team and the people that care about him have really worked together to try to figure out a solution. And what they landed on is just giving him what's being called a reset, essentially this leave of absence, a little bit of time away to let things calm down a bit. Obviously, he can use that time to heal his body and his mind. And what's good about that is it doesn't sound like it's anything they expect to be crazy long term.

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The Knux are heading out on a six-game road trip that takes them through the East. I think after that point, this probably, if everything goes well, you'll be looking at Miller trying to rejoin the team then. So let's call this probably a proactive decision. Maybe in 10 years ago, NHL, it's impossible to know, but players Here in this situation might not have got to this solution. But I really do sense that the Knox and JT's team here are on the same page, and they're just giving him a little bit of a time out to catch his breath and make sure he can be at his best for the key part of their season.